Shades of Steel
by Philote
Summary: The Doctor makes an unscheduled stop, and Jack and Rose are somewhat perplexed by his choice of destination.


Title: Shades of Steel

Author: Philote

Fandom: Dr. Who

Characters: Nine, Jack, Rose

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of _Dr. Who_ do not belong to me. I make no money from this story. Please don't sue.

Warnings: Takes place after "The Doctor Dances," spoilers as such. Not slash, but Jack is being Jack.

Summary: The Doctor makes an unscheduled stop, and Jack and Rose are somewhat perplexed by his choice of destination.

Author's Note: Written for the 'colorless' challenge at Taming the Muse.

oOo

He woke abruptly, quiet and still but instantly alert. Something had changed.

It wasn't necessarily something bad, but some aspect of his surroundings had shifted. He'd been long conditioned to wake at the first sense of any change in environment, anything that might turn out to be a threat. He lay there, listening, waiting for any immediate sign. When none came, he eventually realized that the change was actually an absence of something. The telltale sounds and motion of travel had stopped. The TARDIS had come to a rest.

Jack stood and pulled his clothes on before groping for his watch. It had been barely two hours since he'd gone to bed. The Doctor had sent his companions off for their 'precious human beauty sleep,' as he put it with that smirk that somehow mixed condescension and affection. Rose had been practically nodding off on her feet after their last little jaunt. Jack had been exhausted himself, if unwilling to admit it; if he stumbled now as he pulled his boots on, that exhaustion was clearly the reason.

He made his way from his room out towards the control room. It was empty. He looked in the nooks and crannies before heading back to the kitchen, which was also empty. Frowning, he headed past the Doctor's room and back to the control room, calling "Doctor?" multiple times. He got no answer.

He checked the monitors and then simply stood there in front of the consoles, concern beginning to temper his curiosity. He turned towards a noise from the nearby hallway to find Rose wandering out. She yawned, running a hand through her hair and looking thoroughly sleep-muddled. "What's goin' on?"

"Not sure," he admitted. "Sleep well?"

"Did I sleep? Felt like I'd just nodded off."

"You had. This would seem to be an unscheduled stop."

"Where's the Doctor?"

"Another good question. I'm gonna guess he's outside." He made for the door, then turned and held out his hand. "Fancy a walk?" he offered with a horribly phony accent.

She grinned and came to take his hand. "Do you even know what's out there? What if it's not…" She broke off as he opened the door and tugged her out, spilling them both onto solid ground. When he turned and waggled his eyebrows she smacked him on the arm and finished, "…safe. Breathing's nice; that's all I'm saying."

He stepped further from the shelter of the TARDIS and turned the charm down for the moment, long enough to take in their surroundings. The atmosphere was breathable, though a gray sort of haze hung low in the air. In the distance he could make out what appeared to be the skeletal structures of buildings. In was in that direction where he spotted the Doctor's figure, perfectly still and facing away from them.

But the more immediate landscape drew their attention. Endless rows of stones spread in the opposite direction as far as the eye could see.

Rose stepped up to one, squinting at it. "Are these…"

"Graves," Jack confirmed grimly.

"There must be hundreds," she breathed, moving closer to him once more.

An eerie silence blanketed. It was like something out of an old-Earth black and white movie, not a speck of color to be seen. It wasn't fully dark, suggesting there was a sun out there somewhere. But it couldn't be seen through the dank gray cloud cover. There were no signs of life, only the graves and ruins serving as a mockery of it's absence.

It was perhaps the bleakest landscape he'd ever seen. And he'd seen his fair share.

Rose slipped her hand into his again as they made their way towards the still figure. She only let go when they drew within a few feet, separating and coming up on either side of the Doctor.

"Doctor?"

He'd given no sign of noticing their approach, but he didn't seem surprised by their appearance. "Ah. Woken from our naps, have we?"

"If by 'naps' you're referring to our much needed sleep, then yeah."

Before the Doctor could latch onto that for a 'fragile humans' spiel, Jack piped in. "The scenery changed considerably while we were out."

"It did at that." Infuriatingly, he offered nothing more.

"We didn't take a wrong turn, did we?" Rose dared to suggest.

"I don't take wrong turns."

She bit her lip to curb a smile. "Of course not. Well then. This place is…interesting."

"Interesting. The polite kiss of death," Jack confided to the Doctor. "She means to call it the most depressing vacation spot she's ever laid eyes on."

It earned him a quirk of lips from Rose but was wasted on the Time Lord, who was back to paying them no mind at all. He wandered ahead several feet, eyes transfixed on what was left of the structures. "Well, come along then. Something to show you."

Jack and Rose exchanged a glance. Then they hurried to catch up.

They made their way into the ruins. Jack scrutinized the still-standing beams. They looked like steel—certainly some un-biodegradable material. More gray, with debris and rocks strewn around to compose gray ground as well.

"Ever been here, Jack?" the Doctor asked.

Not in its current state, certainly. He tried to imagine the place brighter, inhabited, and colored with life. "No; I don't think so."

"It's rather dreary," Rose finally voiced.

The Doctor didn't answer. Jack stepped up. "This place just needs a little color. Who's got more color than me, huh?"

Rose grinned. "He's got a point there."

The Doctor just eyed him up and down pointedly. He followed the gaze. Admittedly, there was not a lot of color in the dark slacks, white shirt, and black jacket. "Well, we can fix that easily enough," he smirked, shrugging out of the jacket with an unmistakable leer.

He was reaching for the belt when the Doctor spoke up. "Best keep the clothes, Jack. You might contract something…unsavory."

He glanced suspiciously at the surrounding debris. Then he shrugged the jacket back on. The Doctor patted him absently on the chest as he passed, prompting Jack to pivot to stare after him.

Rose just snickered and pushed past. He rolled his eyes and followed.

The Doctor led them past all of the beams to a bluff. They halted where the ground dropped away abruptly, the haze hovering just such that they could see the valley below.

The structures were similar to the ones they'd passed, steel beams standing like skeletal sentries. But these towered, grouped closely and so numerous that it was clearly the remnants of a city. It was impressive now; what must it have been like at its height?

The Doctor let them observe for a few long moments before he smiled. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Beautiful?" Rose responded dubiously. Jack shared the sentiment. While it was an awesome sight, impressive in its scope, there was nothing pretty about it. The impression of tragedy pervaded. Even a battlefield had blood stains. This was just cold, lifeless. The overall effect was discomfiting.

The Doctor defended his opinion. "Amazing, what they accomplished. What they left behind."

Jack was quiet, now observing the Doctor more than the landscape. It was Rose who stepped closer to him, asking softly, "Did you know someone here?"

"You don't have to know them to grieve them. Or to properly appreciate what they were."

That wasn't exactly an answer to her question, but neither of them pushed it. They stood with him quietly, subdued, and waited patiently until he clapped his hands, offered them one of those brilliant smiles, and asked if they were ready to head off.

oOo

Rose sensed something off about all of this as well as Jack did, though she didn't seem to have put a finger on it yet. But she was still exhausted. She stubbornly stayed up with them as long as she was able, sitting with Jack and chatting mindlessly as they watched the Doctor tinker with something under the TARDIS' main console. Finally, when she could no longer hold her eyes open, she gave in and headed off to her room. She exchanged a significant glance with Jack as she left.

Jack nodded, understanding perfectly. The Doctor missed the exchange entirely. In fact, he didn't seem to realize that Jack was still in the room until he turned to retrieve another tool, stopping short when he spotted his silent observer. "Something I can help you with, Captain?"

Jack stood and meandered over to settle himself on the console, close enough to encroach on the Doctor's personal space. "Rose and I were supposed to sleep through this little stop, weren't we?"

If he was bothered by the proximity, the Time Lord stubbornly refused to show it. He also kept his attention on the tools in his hands. "You'd only been out for a couple of hours. Maybe no one told you, but humans need more sleep than that."

Jack was unable to suppress a yawn. "No argument there."

"You should get back to bed, Jack."

He let his lips curl suggestively. "Was that a proposition, Doctor?"

It earned him a tight, false smile. This one translated to 'my patience is wearing thin.' "Consider it a friendly order from the captain of _this_ ship."

Luckily, Jack was not easily cowed. He wouldn't question the Doctor in a life and death situation, but he would push the personal encounters no matter their unofficial chain of command. That was just his way, and the Doctor certainly needed somebody to do it. "You think I don't recognize this place?"

The Doctor looked up at him sharply. "You said—"

"That I'd never been here, and that's true, at least to the best of my knowledge. But I am human. I do know a bit of human history. I know this was a human colony; one of the first permanent settlements. They were quite successful for years; they'd developed near-complete independence from Earth. They were making some great strides, scientifically and otherwise. They were praised for their peaceful society."

It was a guess, something he was digging up from his background knowledge as a time agent. But if he'd learned to read the Doctor's expressions at all, he had it right. He continued, "Then, if I recall correctly, there was a plague. It didn't kill all of them, but it was devastating, right? The survivors eventually abandoned the colony."

"Not a bad memory there, Captain." Spoken with a touch of venom, it was clearly intended to sting. And it did, a bit. But it also proved that Jack was close to hitting a raw nerve.

"I don't know if you knew someone here personally or not. But I don't need to know that to recognize the symbolism. Brave human pioneers, triumphant in their accomplishments. Now cold steel and stones are all that's left of them. Brief candles, bright for a moment and gone the next." He leaned closer, pinned the Doctor's gaze. "That is why you came here, right? A little reminder of why we're inferior, why you shouldn't keep us too close?"

The Doctor stared at him for a moment before looking away, busying himself once more. He didn't answer.

"What's the matter, Doctor?" he pressed. "Getting a little too attached to your current companions?"

That, at least, provoked some emotion. He stood, eyes flashing dangerously. "Think quite a lot of yourself, don't you? You've been with me barely a month by Earth standards."

"Yeah, but I'm a special one." Jack punctuated the statement with a wink.

"Some sort of special," the Doctor mumbled darkly.

"I bet it took you even less time to get attached to Rose."

No response. The Doctor wouldn't look away from him now, head bowed slightly but eyes boring into his.

"I suppose I don't know much about immortality. But I know plenty about humanity. Like it or not, you've got plenty of that in here." He reached out and poked at the Doctor's chest. Then he gentled the hand, let it rest there. "And, just like a scared, wounded human, you're trying to put some of that steel around your heart. To protect it." He'd fully expected to be pushed away. When it didn't happen, when the Doctor merely stared down at his fingers, he boldly slid them across the lean chest to find the other beat. "To protect both of them."

It took a long moment, but the Doctor set his jaw and carefully detached the hand from his chest. "Terribly poetic, Jack. But you presume too much. Whatever traits you may recognize, I'm still not human."

"No. But you do love us. Flaws and all."

The Time Lord realized he was still hanging onto Jack and released his wrist abruptly. "I tolerate you, that's all."

"You pick random ones of us up, take us with you."

"Let's get one thing straight: _you_ inflicted yourself on _me_. And maybe I just like studying specimens, like monkeys in the zoo."

Jack grinned at the comeback. It lacked fire. "You think we're special."

"Are you referring to your species, or are we back to your ego again?"

"Hey, my ego's got nothing on yours. Quite a pair we are."

"We are not a _pair_," the Doctor sputtered.

"Nope, 'cause luckily we've got Rose to keep us in line. Quite a trio, then." Flustered was a cute look for the Time Lord. Jack tilted his head, feeling a surge of affection for the man who'd saved him from himself. "Keep your distance, if that's what you think you need. But you can't stop us from loving you."

The Doctor huffed in frustration. "There you go again, throwing around words like 'love.' A month, Jack. That's not long enough for love."

"Sure it is. When you don't have all the time in the universe, you trust what you're feeling. Live in the moment."

He considered going for the cheek, but decided that would be pushing it. He grabbed the Doctor's hand instead, pressing a brief kiss to the palm. Then he stepped back.

"I believe in living. Good night, Doctor."

He headed back to his much-needed sleep, leaving a still-flustered and brooding Time Lord behind.

oOo


End file.
